Abstract:The present findings are drawn from the project Reading comprehension -Typical Development and its Risks aiming to map the developmental dynamics of the reading comprehension skills of Czech children. In this paper, we focus on the issue of comprehension measures. Because of the lack of such measures in the Czech Republic, the research team designed three new tools: an oral reading comprehension (Rabbits), a silent reading comprehension (Going on a trip), and a listening comprehension test (Little Star). All of these tests have an identical structure, similar content features and assess the literal and inferential comprehension of a story.First, we report on the reliability and validity of these tests using data from a study involving 467 firstto fourth-graders. Second, we compare the comprehension scores (global, implicit, and explicit) and investigate the differences between grades in the patterns of these comprehension skills. We discuss the possibility of the application of these measures as diagnostic tools in education and research.Keywords: comprehension tests, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, silent reading, oral reading, literal and inferential comprehension Résumé : Ces résultats de recherche sont tirés du projet Compréhension de lecture-Développement typique et ses risques, dont le but principal est d'établir la dynamique des habiletés en compré-hension de lecture chez les enfants tchèques. Dans cette publication, nous mettons l'emphase sur les problèmes des mesures de compréhension. Dû au manque de telles mesures en République Tchèque, l'équipe de recherche a conçu trois nouveaux outils: un test de lecture à haute voix (Rabbits), un test de lecture silencieuse (Going on a trip), et un test d'écoute (Little Star). Tous ces tests ont une structure identique et des caractéristiques similaires et évaluent la compréhension littérale et déductive d'une histoire. Premièrement, nous évaluons la fiabilité et la validité de ces tests en prenant les données d'une étude impliquant 467 élèves de la première à la quatrième année. Ensuite, nous comparons les résultats de compréhension (généraux, implicites et explicites) et étudions les différences entre les

Collocation knowledge is claimed to be poor even among upper-intermediate and advanced learners of English as a second language, which implies that not enough attention is being drawn to these lexical items in lessons. To address this problem, we designed a 12-week teaching intervention in which the participants (39 students of Charles University in Prague) were divided into two groups: an experimental group with an intensive explicit collocation focus (20) and a control group with no such care dedicated to collocations (19). Th e division of the students was performed in such a way that the groups were equal in terms of the variables whichtend to infl uence the learning process the most, namely language aptitude, anxiety, motivation, and learning strategies. Th e results showed that the experimental group achieved signifi cantly higher scores for collocation knowledge. No signifi cant diff erence was found between the groups in understanding of word meanings. Deliberate teaching of collocations with systematic revisionand practice thus proved to be more eff ective than meaning-focused teaching of individual words.

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Monitoring children’s language ability levels makes it possible to predict their school achievement and identify potential difficulties. Identifying literacy difficulties in terms of specific learning disabilities is an important topic for elementary school pupils. Today, there is a general consensus based on research evidence that the diagnostic battery of literacy skills should always include a test of language abilities, through which the prerequisites for individual reading skills and at-risk readers can be identified. A working group has created a diagnostic tool for language awareness that allows the morphological-syntactic (subtest A and B) and semantic (subtest C) language levels of Czech children of elementary school age to be assessed. Data analysis examines how individual language skills correspond to reading performance – decoding and reading comprehension in different reading modalities (oral and silent reading) and how they correspond to other prerequisites for reading, such as listening comprehension. The paper introduces a new diagnostic tool using a quantitative methodology. It is based on data from the research project Key Literacy Skills for Primary School Pupils – a diagnostic battery, in which 881 elementary grade pupils (Grade 1 – Grade 5) participated. The statistical parameters of the new tool are presented and the relations between the Language Awareness Test, decoding skills, and oral and silent reading comprehension are analysed.

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